A recent study highlighted the significant social isolation experienced by older adults with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Published in ACR Open Rheumatology, the qualitative research involved interviews with 30 patients aged 65 and older, for which the researchers employed a descriptive phenomenological design. They collected qualitative data on participants' social networks, disease characteristics, and health-related quality of life. Social isolation and mental health challenges were common themes in their lived experiences.

Participants, who were a mean age of 71.3 years, described how systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) disease manifestations contributed to isolation more than the unavailability of social networks. Many individuals expressed feelings of being a burden to loved ones, which exacerbated their emotional distress.

"Most of my friends that used to live here are deceased, unfortunately. So my friends now live other places and so I talk on the phone, but there's not a lot of interaction with other people other than if I'm buying something at the grocery store and, and that's difficult. So having somebody come over, it really doesn't exist other than family. It doesn't exist anymore, so I feel very isolated," one respondent said.

Another wrote, "I have to…be very aware of how much I do because [if] I do too much I will be in…more pain and I don't want to have more of a setback....I try to moderate things very carefully and go out…two, three times or a weekend or something like that…so it affects relationships because I end up doing less."

A third respondent noted that not being able to drink much because of SLE medications causes her to be less social when many activities among her friends involve alcohol.

Sarah B. Lieber of the Hospital for Special Surgery and Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, and colleagues emphasized the need for further observational studies to better understand the relationship between social isolation and adverse health outcomes, including depression, to help improve patients' well-being, especially because research has associated social isolation with incident cardiovascular disease, stroke, and premature death, in addition to mental health challenges.

While not all participants who experienced musculoskeletal pain reported social isolation, the researchers also suggested that the biopsychosocial model of pain can be explored further to inform future interventions for patients with SLE.

Full disclosures are detailed in the study.